1) What happens in your scene? Outline the basic events.
- In scene 5.1, a gentlewoman who attends Lady Macbeth called for a doctor's help because she saw Lady Macbeth sleepwalking. When the doctor asked why the gentlewoman did not tell anyone, she explained that she wanted to have a witness to confirm her words. The doctor stayed for two days but did not see any signs of sleepwalking from Lady Macbeth. However, one night, Lady Macbeth walks in and starts rubbing her hands in front of the candle. As she reenacts the murder of Duncan, she speaks of her dark secrets. She tries to wash her hands to wipe off the "blood" (guilt). The doctor finds out that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have killed King Duncan, the thane of Fife's wife and children, Banquo, and maybe more. Lady Macbeth goes back to bed, and the doctor and gentlewoman leave the scene as well.
2) What do you think are the key purpose of your scene? In other words, why is this scene important? (Keep these purposes in mind as you make decisions about blocking and characterization.)
- In my opinion, the key purpose of scene 5.1 is to portray the beginning of the downfall of the villains, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. After Macbeth left for war against Malcolm and Macduff, Lady Macbeth could not bear her guilt but starts confessing her evil deeds in her sleep, assuming that no one is listening. By this time, since the dark secret has already been spilled to the doctor and the gentlewoman, it is predicted that more people will soon become aware of the fact that Macbeth murdered many in order to become the king and remain as the king.
Also, this is the scene in which Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's personalities begin to change. At the beginning, Macbeth was very timid and scared about killing King Duncan. Yet, as act 5 progresses, he is not at all hesitant in being a tyrant. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth started out as a bold person, but as the play proceeds, she becomes more and more vulnerable and overwhelmed with guilt. Scene 5.1 portrays weakness of Lady Macbeth for the first time, which sets a stage for her suicide later on. Without this scene, the reasons behind Lady Macbeth's suicide would be unexplainable. Up until this point, Lady Macbeth was portrayed as a rather masculine and strong woman but this scene shows the vulnerable and human side of her, which partially aids to explain her decision to commit suicide.
The irony of this scene lies in the fact that Lady Macbeth tells her secrets herself as she ensures Macbeth in her dream, saying "What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?" In a sense, her greed and humanity brought her own downfall.
In addition, this scene demonstrates how no one wants to be loyal to the king and the queen. For instance, although the gentlewoman is supposed to be faithful to the queen, she is not loyal to Lady Macbeth. She slipped what she heard from Lady Macbeth to the doctor.
3) What are your reactions to this scene?
- At this point, although I certainly do not think that what Lady Macbeth did can not be justified, I start to feel sorry for Lady Macbeth. That is, because, unlike Macbeth, who became the king, thane, etc, I feel like she has not gotten a lot. She is the queen, woman of the highest possible position during this time for sure, but she lacks faith, loyalty, and innocence. Even her servants are not to be trusted. She lost her innocence completely by persuading Macbeth, at first, to kill numerous people in order to fulfill her treacherous needs. At that time, I felt that she was just an insatiable, greedy woman. However, after reading this scene, I feel that Lady Macbeth has lost way more than she had earn. She has earned the literal title as a queen, but in return, lost sleep, innocence, faith, loyalty, and love. Therefore, I definitely feel sorry for Lady Macbeth after reading scene 5.1.
Character Report
1) What does gentlewoman want in this scene?
- Gentlewoman wants an answer to her curiosity. To begin with, gentlewoman was driven by curiosity and concern of Lady's Macbeth's unusually deeds. Therefore, in this scene, she wants to figure out why Lady Macbeth is confessing terrible crimes while throughly washing her hands with air. She is also kind of concerned about Lady Macbeth, naturally, so she wants to know if Lady Macbeth is alright as well. Basically, gentlewoman is seeking for answers in this scene.
2) What is gentlewoman's motivation for what she does?
- As stated above, gentlewoman's rudimentary motivation for what she does is concern and curiosity. She wants to know why Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and washing her hands to make them free of "blood" and she is also concerned about Lady Macbeth since gentlewoman is, after all, Lady Macbeth's servant.
3) What obstacles stand in her way?
- Although gentlewoman is curious to figure out what Lady Macbeth's terrible confession actually meant, the doctor that was present with her wished to hide the dark, clandestine, truth. The doctor did not want gentlewoman to know about Lady Macbeth's evil deeds. This serves as a major obstacle, because whenever gentlewoman comes close to figuring out what Lady Macbeth's words and actions meant, the doctor kept her from knowing the details.
4) What happens when your character confronts these obstacles?
- Gentlewoman is just a servant of Lady Macbeth: she does not posses immense power to overrule other people. Therefore, when the doctor tells the gentlewoman to exit with him, she cannot refuse. Similarly, if the doctor were to cover up for Lady Macbeth, which is an obstacle for the gentlewoman, there is nothing that gentlewoman can actually do at that point. She just has to obey him, thus she was unable to successfully confront these obstacles.
5) Are there any distinct elements in gentlewoman's way of speaking?
- I have sensed some distinct elements in gentlewoman's way of speaking. For instance, when gentlewoman says "She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that: heaven knows what she has known." it implies that gentlewoman has a clue of what Lady Macbeth did, although the doctor did not want her to know. Also, throughout gentlewoman's speeches, the audiences can get a feeling that gentlewoman has closely observed Lady Macbeth for numerous days, and that she was very curious of the reason and logic behind this unusual phenomena. Her past observations include this speech: "It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands: I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour."
Student Reflection
Evaluate the performance of your group. What went well? What didn’t go well?
I think, overall, our group's performance went well. We were aware of the meaning of each of our lines and our costumes were accurately depicting the scene and our characters. We acted in character throughout the entire scene performance and our motions were carefully considered. One thing that I thought didn't go really well was the fact that we depended a little too much on our scripts.
How well did you contribute to your group?
I think i contributed fairly well to my group as my role, the Gentlewoman. I cooperated with my acting company to put forward out scene performance and to smoothly yet accurately deliver my lines to the audience.
How well did you perform as an individual?
I really tried my best to be in Gentlewoman's character throughout the entire performance. However, Gentle woman was not a character of great personal characteristics. She is not bold and crazy like Lady Macbeth, and she does not have the tone of mysteriousness as in the Doctor, who tries to observe Lady Macbeth and at the same time, hide the key facts from Gentlewoman. Therefore, it was rather difficult to tell if I was actually in character. To cover up for that, I tried to act like a timid and curious Gentlewoman all throughout.
What could have improved your scene performance?
Our group, in my opinion, depended too heavily on the script. I think, if we were to do to this a second time, we should depend less on our given scripts and rather, have it memorized to give a more professional play.
How did the scene performance help you better understand the play.
The scene performance did indeed help me to better understand the play. In order to really accurately deliver the lines with emotions, I was required to learn what every line meant. Shakespeare put each and every word in the play for a reason and through out this scene performance, I was able to seek out the reason behind Shakespeare's putting of the word in that specific location and how the word contributed to the overall play, Macbeth.
5.1 Gentlewoman
Scene Analysis
1) What happens in your scene? Outline the basic events.
- In scene 5.1, a gentlewoman who attends Lady Macbeth called for a doctor's help because she saw Lady Macbeth sleepwalking. When the doctor asked why the gentlewoman did not tell anyone, she explained that she wanted to have a witness to confirm her words. The doctor stayed for two days but did not see any signs of sleepwalking from Lady Macbeth. However, one night, Lady Macbeth walks in and starts rubbing her hands in front of the candle. As she reenacts the murder of Duncan, she speaks of her dark secrets. She tries to wash her hands to wipe off the "blood" (guilt). The doctor finds out that Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have killed King Duncan, the thane of Fife's wife and children, Banquo, and maybe more. Lady Macbeth goes back to bed, and the doctor and gentlewoman leave the scene as well.
2) What do you think are the key purpose of your scene? In other words, why is this scene important? (Keep these purposes in mind as you make decisions about blocking and characterization.)
- In my opinion, the key purpose of scene 5.1 is to portray the beginning of the downfall of the villains, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. After Macbeth left for war against Malcolm and Macduff, Lady Macbeth could not bear her guilt but starts confessing her evil deeds in her sleep, assuming that no one is listening. By this time, since the dark secret has already been spilled to the doctor and the gentlewoman, it is predicted that more people will soon become aware of the fact that Macbeth murdered many in order to become the king and remain as the king.
Also, this is the scene in which Lady Macbeth and Macbeth's personalities begin to change. At the beginning, Macbeth was very timid and scared about killing King Duncan. Yet, as act 5 progresses, he is not at all hesitant in being a tyrant. On the other hand, Lady Macbeth started out as a bold person, but as the play proceeds, she becomes more and more vulnerable and overwhelmed with guilt. Scene 5.1 portrays weakness of Lady Macbeth for the first time, which sets a stage for her suicide later on. Without this scene, the reasons behind Lady Macbeth's suicide would be unexplainable. Up until this point, Lady Macbeth was portrayed as a rather masculine and strong woman but this scene shows the vulnerable and human side of her, which partially aids to explain her decision to commit suicide.
The irony of this scene lies in the fact that Lady Macbeth tells her secrets herself as she ensures Macbeth in her dream, saying "What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?" In a sense, her greed and humanity brought her own downfall.
In addition, this scene demonstrates how no one wants to be loyal to the king and the queen. For instance, although the gentlewoman is supposed to be faithful to the queen, she is not loyal to Lady Macbeth. She slipped what she heard from Lady Macbeth to the doctor.
3) What are your reactions to this scene?
- At this point, although I certainly do not think that what Lady Macbeth did can not be justified, I start to feel sorry for Lady Macbeth. That is, because, unlike Macbeth, who became the king, thane, etc, I feel like she has not gotten a lot. She is the queen, woman of the highest possible position during this time for sure, but she lacks faith, loyalty, and innocence. Even her servants are not to be trusted. She lost her innocence completely by persuading Macbeth, at first, to kill numerous people in order to fulfill her treacherous needs. At that time, I felt that she was just an insatiable, greedy woman. However, after reading this scene, I feel that Lady Macbeth has lost way more than she had earn. She has earned the literal title as a queen, but in return, lost sleep, innocence, faith, loyalty, and love. Therefore, I definitely feel sorry for Lady Macbeth after reading scene 5.1.
Character Report
1) What does gentlewoman want in this scene?
- Gentlewoman wants an answer to her curiosity. To begin with, gentlewoman was driven by curiosity and concern of Lady's Macbeth's unusually deeds. Therefore, in this scene, she wants to figure out why Lady Macbeth is confessing terrible crimes while throughly washing her hands with air. She is also kind of concerned about Lady Macbeth, naturally, so she wants to know if Lady Macbeth is alright as well. Basically, gentlewoman is seeking for answers in this scene.
2) What is gentlewoman's motivation for what she does?
- As stated above, gentlewoman's rudimentary motivation for what she does is concern and curiosity. She wants to know why Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking and washing her hands to make them free of "blood" and she is also concerned about Lady Macbeth since gentlewoman is, after all, Lady Macbeth's servant.
3) What obstacles stand in her way?
- Although gentlewoman is curious to figure out what Lady Macbeth's terrible confession actually meant, the doctor that was present with her wished to hide the dark, clandestine, truth. The doctor did not want gentlewoman to know about Lady Macbeth's evil deeds. This serves as a major obstacle, because whenever gentlewoman comes close to figuring out what Lady Macbeth's words and actions meant, the doctor kept her from knowing the details.
4) What happens when your character confronts these obstacles?
- Gentlewoman is just a servant of Lady Macbeth: she does not posses immense power to overrule other people. Therefore, when the doctor tells the gentlewoman to exit with him, she cannot refuse. Similarly, if the doctor were to cover up for Lady Macbeth, which is an obstacle for the gentlewoman, there is nothing that gentlewoman can actually do at that point. She just has to obey him, thus she was unable to successfully confront these obstacles.
5) Are there any distinct elements in gentlewoman's way of speaking?
- I have sensed some distinct elements in gentlewoman's way of speaking. For instance, when gentlewoman says "She has spoke what she should not, I am sure of that: heaven knows what she has known." it implies that gentlewoman has a clue of what Lady Macbeth did, although the doctor did not want her to know. Also, throughout gentlewoman's speeches, the audiences can get a feeling that gentlewoman has closely observed Lady Macbeth for numerous days, and that she was very curious of the reason and logic behind this unusual phenomena. Her past observations include this speech: "It is an accustomed action with her, to seem thus washing her hands: I have known her continue in this a quarter of an hour."
Student Reflection